FROM this time may be dated the subjection of our island to the Roman emperors, or, more properly perhaps, to their legates, and propraetors. It is true, that the greater part of the island yet remained unconquered; but the defeat of Caractacus, and the constant torrent of success with which the Romans bore down all who resisted them, had at least struck an universal consternation, if not a terror, throughout the whole nation. The aversion which every British prince bore to his neighbours was often greater than the love which he bore to his country: the passion of hatred being in general more violent, and of longer duration, than the passion of love. Thus Carismantua betrayed Caractacus, not so much from the motives of fear or treachery, as from a desire of gaining the protection and assistance of the Romans against her husband Venutius and his whole family, whom she held in the utmost detestation.
The behaviour of Caractacus at Rome, when led in triumph, and as a public spectacle, was truly great. He appeared before the emperor with a decent, manly, composed countenance; and if we are to believe Cornelius Tacitus, he made a speech to this purpose:
If in my prosperity, the moderation of my conduct had been equivalent to my birth and fortune, I should have come into this city, not as a captive, but as a friend: nor would you, Caesar, have disdained to have entered into an alliance with a man born of illustrious ancestors, and powerful in the command of many colonies. My present fate is to me dishonourable: to you magnificently glorious. I once had horses; I once had men; I once had arms; I once had riches. Can you wonder, if I have lost all these unwillingly? although, as Romans, you may aim at the conquest of all mankind, it does not follow, that all mankind must submit to be your slaves. If I had immediately yielded without resistance, neither the perverseness of my fortune, nor the glory of your triumph had been so remarkable. Punish me with death, and I shall be forgotten. Suffer me to live, and I shall remain an eternal example of your clemency.
Much struck and awakened by the appearance of such a prisoner, the emperor ordered the chains of Caractacus and his family to be taken off; and Agrippina, who was more than an equal associate in the empire, not only received the captive Britons with great marks of kindness and compassion, but confirmed to them the enjoyment of their present liberty.
During the remainder of Claudius Caesar’s reign, the Romans and the Britons went on in the same offensive and defensive manner, which they had practised for some years past. Skirmish succeeded skirmish. The victories were alternate; but the advantages were generally more on the Roman, than on the British side.
Nero, the son of Agrippina, by her second husband Caius Domitius Aenobarbus, succeeded Claudius, and ascended the imperial throne. In the beginning of Nero’s reign, the government of our island was conducted in the same tract that had been pursued for some years past. Legate was sent after legate: procurator followed procurator; and as the wealth of the island increased, each governor became more tyrannical and rapacious.
At the landing of the first Caesar, the Britons were a people without riches, without commerce, without agriculture. At the accession of Nero, they were sufficiently rich to pay the tributes imposed upon them by the Romans: their present opulency arose from the number of their herds, from their experience in agriculture, and from the produce of their wool. Their herds of cattle were always numerous, and are mentioned as such by Caesar. Their improvements in agriculture were acquired by their intercourse with the continent; and their wool was reckoned of so fine a texture, that it was much esteemed, and sought after by foreigners. Our wool remains in the same degree of repute at this day.
From the defeat of Caractacus, the Britons were no longer looked upon as allies, but as tributary provincials to the empire of Rome: they were permitted indeed, in all controversies and rights, as were purely relative to themselves, to be determined by their own laws, and to be governed by their own princes; but in all public assessments, in levies for the army, and in many other instances, both the princes and the people, as far as the Roman arms had yet prevailed in the island, were equally subject to their conquerors. Their situation was particularly unhappy under Nero’s government. The vices of that emperor soon grew to such a height, that the riches of the whole earth were insufficient to answer his demands. Every kingdom, every province in the world was taxed with great rigour; but the taxations imposed upon the Britons were more sensibly grievous and oppressive. Their state of bondage grew so very intolerable, that in the fifth year of Nero’s reign, the Iceni, whose queen Boadicea and her two daughters had been treated in a most vicious, cruel, and ignominious manner, resolved to rise up in arms against the Romans. The Iceni were joined by the Trinobantes; and both these colonies put themselves under the command of the injured and outrageous Boadicea. Dio and Tacitus make the British army amount to an incredible number. There is no doubt that their forces were more numerous than had ever yet been assembled in Britain: and they judiciously chose to make this bold effort for their laws and liberty, at a time when Paulinus Suetonius, the Roman governor of Britain, was engaged in an attempt upon Mona, and had withdrawn all his forces into that island.
Boadicea, and her army were, at first successful; but alas! how very intoxicating qualities has success! The British heroine and her followers threw aside every sentiment of compassion, and became more inhumanly savage than their ancestors in the time of Julius Caesar. Their actions, as related by Dion Cassius, are too shocking to be related. Let us pass over them in silence, and if possible bury them in eternal oblivion.
Paulinus Suetonius, upon the alarm of such a sudden and extraordinary insurrection, reimbarked his troops; and, without the least loss of time, marched to London, which was then only inhabited by merchants; but, as Tacitus informs us, was a city remarkably well supplied with all kinds of provisions. Suetonius pressed forward with unwearied expedition, fully resolved to take the earliest opportunity of forcing the enemy to a general battle. The exact spot where the battle was fought is not known; but we are told, that Suetonius, by choosing a very advantageous piece of ground, and by drawing up his men with all the military conduct of an experienced commander, gained so compleat a victory, that Tacitus equals it to any of the glorious conquests obtained by the antient Romans.
Boadicea, as Dio represents her, was of a majestic presence, of a masculine countenance, tall in stature, with yellow hair.
This unfortunate Thalestris seems to have been a woman of a most intrepid spirit, and of a peculiar pride and fierceness, amounting even to barbarity. It is certain that she had received great injuries, such as might have provoked a milder disposition: but she had shewn herself so utterly void of pity, and had put in practice such cruelties against the Romans, that she drew upon her own subjects in some degree an equal portion of revenge. Not a Briton received quarter: not even the women, who had attended their husbands to the battle. Boadicea could not bear the thoughts of submission: as soon as the victory was determined, she put an end to her life by poison; and this, I believe, was the first instance, in which the Romans saw themselves imitated in suicide by a Briton; would to God it had been the last!
The Britons were now again subjected to the government, the disposal, and the tyranny of Rome. They remained so during the reign of Nero, without any material alteration, except the unhappy consequence taken notice of by Tacitus, who in his life of Agricola, says, ‘Even these barbarians began to relish now the softness of vice.’
What a bewitching power must luxury possess when it becomes too mighty, not only for the greatest fortitude, but the greatest fierceness of mind?
The Roman emperors who alternatively succeeded Nero, were Galba, Otho, and Vitellius. Their reigns were short, and during that space of time scarce any alteration happened in the government of Britain.
To Vespesian and his son Titus was reserved the glory of making a greater progress towards the entire conquest of the whole island than had been hitherto made by any of his predecessors. Wise princes chuse wise ministers. Vespasian appointed Petilius Cerealis, Julius Frontinus, and Cnaeus Julius Agricola, successively, to the government of Britain. They were three Romans of remarkable eminence, in dignity and reputation. The character of Agricola is drawn by his son in law Cornelius Tacitus. It is the most masterly performance of that historian’s pencil. The picture is painted in the liveliest and the strongest colours, the attitudes are beautiful, and the outlines are just.
Agricola resided near eight years in Britain. He was established in that government by three successive emperors, Vespasian, and his two sons Titus and Domitian.
The political conduct of Agricola was not in the least inferior to his military prowess. He found the Britons already yielding to the temptations of luxury. He artfully encreased those temptations. He introduced the sciences of eloquence and architecture; and the islanders were so enchanted by the manners and customs of their enemies, that they not only applied themselves to learn the Roman language, but many of them even wore the Roman dress. It was a fortunate circumstance to Agricola, that in the very earliest part of his life, he had served in Britain under the command of some of the most eminent Roman governors, parcularly Paulinus Suetonius, and Petilius Cerealis, by both of whom he was personally esteemed and distinguished: nor was it less fortunate, that he had dedicated that part of his youth to speculative knowledge, and had diligently studied the genius and disposition of our forefathers. He had already observed, from experience, that the Britons were much more difficult to be forced than to be induced to yield. Generosity drew them into friendship and compliance; severity drove them into obstinacy and rebellion. They were extremely apt to imbibe and to imitate the manners of foreign nations. Those who were nearest to Gaul assumed the Gallic fashions and behaviour: and as the Romans were still a politer people, their national customs and elegancies were again more acceptable to the Britons; so that in some few years after Agricola’s arrival as governor, he had the pride and satisfaction of seeing the Roman porticos, their baths and other buildings of magnificence imitated, and in a manner transferred into various parts of Britain. Tacitus makes a very true observation upon these improvements. He says, ‘The ignorant looked upon this as the beginning of humanity; the wise knew it to be one of the chief roots of slavery.’
But Agricola was, by no means, absolutely devoted to the arts of peace. He made use of policy only at those seasons, and in those places, where he could not exert his military conduct. He knew that the natural fierceness of the nation was too great, and too universal to be entirely reduced by any arts but arms. He began, although he had landed very late in the summer, by conquering the Ordovices; and as he had remembered them a perverse, mutinous, ungovernable people, he almost destroyed the whole colony: and then proceeded to Mona, with a resolution fully to complete the conquest of that island. This was a work which had been intended by Paulinus Suetonius, but it was left unfinished, upon account of Boadicea’s insurrection.
Mona was originally inhabited by the Druids, and consequently was held in a most idolatrous veneration by the rest of the Britons It is separated from the greater island by a very narrow channel. Suetonius had invaded it with some degree of success. He had landed his soldiers in flat-bottom boats, and had utterly destroyed the temples, groves, and other places of worship, which the Druids had dedicated to religious murders, and to sacrifices of human victims. These holy seers, who, unfortunately for mankind, professed the art of divination, consulted the mysterious decrees of heaven, from the entrails of such ill-fated strangers, who by shipwreck, or any other accident, had been thrown upon their island; and from these impious rites, the British nation in general, was characterized as cruelly inhospitable to strangers.
The reduction of Mona was no very difficult task. The Roman soldiers swam over the river Maene, a sight that struck such terror into the inhabitants, that they surrendered the island without the least attempt towards an opposition.
The winter was employed by Agricola in an administration of justice, throughout the several provinces which he had conquered. He began by a strict reformation in his own houshold and dependents. He proceeded to as strict a disquisition into the conduct and discipline of the army. He excused faults, but he never failed to punish crimes. He was severe, but he was not cruel. He rather required than exacted taxes. He regulated the inequality of assessments, and by preventing all kinds of corruption, he suffered no iniquitous impositions to take place. He chose the obedience flowing from devotion, not the submission arising from fear. In veneration of such virtues, a real attachment to his person, and an humble imitation of his conduct, universally prevailed. His common soldiers became modest and regular: his chief officers generous and humane. The Britons found themselves happy under his government. He was their master, not their tyrant; and they so far complied wich his private advice and encouragement, especially as he pretended no command over their particular oeconomy, that they began, as has been already hinted, to build houses, erect temples, and exhibit various edifices of public resort.
The winter and the spring passed in works of this kind. Early in the summer, Agricola took the field. He made a farther progress into the island than had been attempted by any of his predecessors. He marched northward, and conquered the Brigantes and the Ottodini.
When he returned to his winter-quarters, he resumed his former plan of politics, and endeavoured to reconcile the ancient Britons, not only to the laws, the interest, and the power of the Roman Empire, but to the several refinements which the Romans had made in the more polite, or in truth, the more luxurious branches of their state.
The ensuing summer produced fresh laurels to Agricola. He penetrated into Scotland, and he advanced as far as the Frith of Jay. In his march he did not meet with any opposition; but was so entirely unmolested, that he had sufficient leisure to build forts in the most advantageous situations. Tacitus says, that not one of the forts which had been erected by Agricola was ever taken, surrendered, or abandoned to the enemy. Such was the strength and perfection of these buildings.
The fourth year of Agricola’s goverment, and the last of the reign of Titus, was passed in securing from invasions the most southern parts of Scotland, or what we may call the most northern parts of England.
The fifth summer was employed differently from any of the former. Agricola set sail with his army, not so much with an intention of conquering new nations, as of viewing the coasts and ports of Scotland, and of visiting the several little islands that lie dispersed in the Atlantic and Caledonian seas. In this expedition he had a view of Ireland; an island, says Tacitus, which in the soil and temperature of the air, and in the dispositions and fashions of the people, bears a near resemblance to Britain.
Agricola looked upon the conquest of Ireland as a step of importance to the Roman Empire. He represented it as such in his letters to Rome: and he positively intended a future descent upon that kingdom; but all his great designs were frustrated: Domitian reigned.
The remaining years of Agricola’s government were passed very much in the same manner with the former. Skirmishes by land, and expeditions by sea, in summer; buildings and administration of justice during the other seasons. In most places, as soon as Agricola appeared he conquered. His reputation, and his high name, seem to have been as effectual as his arms; and indeed the records of history have scarce produced a greater man.
Domitian was of a most envious suspicious temper. He grew jealous of his propraetor’s character: but the timidity and hypocrisy of his nature hindered him from an open, or an immediate declaration of his spleen. He suffered Agricola to hold the government till the year of Rome 837, and then he appointed Salustius Lucullus governor in his stead.
In this place our history becomes very obscure. The anecdotes of the state are almost as fabulous as the anecdotes of the church: but as we may be tolerably certain of the exact bounds of the Roman conquests in England and Scotland, they are a point worthy of remembrance.
A line or wall of fortifications was constructed by Agricola from the mouth of the river Forth to the mouth of the river Clyde. The several colonies on the south of that line had been entirely subdued, and were within the Roman pale: all the land beyond that line remained in a state of freedom, and was called Caledonia.
Domitian died in the year of Rome, 848. He was the last of the family of Vespasian, and of that set of emperors who were looked upon as most nearly allied in affinity to Julius Caesar. It is scarce worth while to take a retrospect of our ancestors at this particular period. The space of time indeed since the first invasion by the Romans amounts to near a century and a half; but the improvements of the Britons in literature are, by no means, equal to that interval. Their chief, and perhaps their only characteristic, was courage. Tacitus indeed lets drop one sentence that seems to reflect some little degree of honour upon the genius of the natives: he says, ‘Agricola took care, that the young British princes should be instructed in the liberal sciences; and in his own opinion, he preferred the natural faculties of the Britons to the acquired studies of the Gauls, as the former were now earnestly desirous to learn the art of eloquence, although they had lately shewn a dislike to the Roman language.’ Or in other words, ‘The Britons had long since wished to be taught, but till now they had detested their teachers.’
A thirst of knowledge is always reputed commendable; at least we are sure it is natural: but if we reject prejudice and speak truth, must not we own, that the arts and sciences are so many leading avenues to luxury? They instruct and they delight, but they soften and they enervate. They cannot conquer the causes of vice: they can only disguise the effects. Nay, even if we suppose, that they triumph over some passions; are they not apt to raise others of a worse tendency? Enquire into the original inhabitants of any nation; the inhabitants will be constantly and truly represented as courageous and indefatigable, because they were bred in woods, and accustomed to hardships. As soon as they were brought into cities; as soon as they had tasted pleasures, their alertness languished, and their courage melted away. This was the fate of the antient Britons. Agricola had sagaciously observed the errors of his predecessors, and he was determined to win his enemies by methods which no other governor had pursued. He recollected the fable of the traveller, who, while the wind blustered, and blew violently, kept on his cloak in defiance of Boreas, but when the sun appeared, when he felt the rays of Phoebus, he not only threw aside his cloak, but as the heat encreased, divested himself of every other garment. The successors of Agricola acted the part of Boreas. They were stormy and boisterous, but not successful. They afforded no sunshine.
The Caledonians, a brave and an unconquered people, lost no opportunities of driving back the Romans into the more southern parts of Britain. They were led on by Galgacus, who was a north Britain of great valour, and of high birth: he had made a considerable resistance, even against Agricola. It is a record for ever to the honour of the Caledonians, that they were not in the least infected by the contagious habits which had been introduced into South Britain. Their bravery was undaunted, and their manners were uncorrupted. The force of numbers had lately compelled them to take refuge amidst the Grampian mountains; but as soon as Agricola was departed, they came forward in all their native valour; and, by their example and encouragement, animated the Britons to resume the spirit of their ancestors, and to join in the common cause of extirpating the Romans out of the kingdom. To execute so great a work could only be the effect of time. Roman colonies had been planted; intermarriages had been made; fortresses had been built; and what was the greatest impediment, luxury had been established, as so many preventive bulwarks against all essays of liberty and national prerogative: yet if we can gather any degree of truth from the slight and incongruous accounts of these times, the Britons and the Caledonians, during the reigns of Nerva and Trajan, had made some important efforts towards the principal design for which they had associated. Their progress, if we may believe the Scotch historians, was considerable; and they must soon have freed themselves from the Roman yoke, if the Emperor Adrian had not come over in person.
The Roman general, Lucius Antonius, had been dangerously wounded, and his troops had been repulsed in a battle against the Caledonians. This was a circumstance of sufficient consequence to hasten Adrian to England: but neither the exact time of his arrival, nor his military actions in the island, can by any means be ascertained.
Two medals of this Emperor appear to be strong evidences, that he reduced the Britons to obedience.
On the reverse of one of the medals, is inscribed Britannicus On the reverse of the other, Restitutor Britanniae
During the reigns of the successive emperors, Antonius Pius, M. Aurelius, Commodus, Pertinax, and Didius Julianus. The few circumstances which are relative to Britain, differ only in names, as they are sometimes called battles, sometimes skirmishes, sometimes inroads, sometimes invasions. They may be said to continue the chain of the history; but it is an iron chain continued by wisps of straw.
[To be continued.]
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